Sorkin on Studio 60: “I made too many mistakes”
Aaron Sorkin is the subject of an interview in GQ magazine in which he talks about all sorts of things, including Sports Night, the writer’s strike, and Obama. Also the implosion of Studio 60, for which he takes the blame. Here’s that part of the interview (questions in bold, Sorkin’s response following), though it’s worth going to the GQ site and reading the whole thing:
“Why didn’t Studio 60 work?
I made too many mistakes. I would give anything to go back and get another bite of that apple. Basically, to use a sports analogy, you can have the best team in football playing the worst team in football. But if the best team in football throws four interceptions, they’re not going to win.
“That sounds a little arrogant.
I’m helped by a staff of people who have great ideas, but the scripts aren’t written by committee. I was too angry when I wrote Studio 60. The show became like the cover of Abbey Road. Everybody was trying to figure out who this character was in real life or what that incident was trying to be. But the anger—it was a post-9/11 anger. We were going through a time when the television networks were so sensitive toward appearing patriotic. And patriotism was just being questioned all over the place. It just seemed like the wheels had come off our national culture.
“The Janet Jackson–FCC incident could easily be lumped in with that.
There was hysteria everywhere. Exactly. And the Internet [doesn’t help]—it’s a bronchial infection on the First Amendment. Nothing has done more to make us dumber or meaner than the anonymity of the Internet.
“Do you feel guilty about Studio 60’s failure?
I felt like I had let so many people down—from Warner Bros. and NBC to the cast and crew. You live and die with these things. It is a feeling that you can’t look these people in the eye anymore. Someone like Matt Perry.
“It’s tough to feel bad for Matthew Perry.
Exactly. Yet you do.
“Does it bother you that Tina Fey is still taking shots at you on 30 Rock?
I shook hands with her once. I know she’s had some fun at my expense, and that’s what she does for a living. If I’m going to take shots at whoever I want on my show, she gets to take shots at whoever she wants on her show. I have nothing but admiration for Tina Fey.”
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